1. The Field of the Invention
This invention relates to games of skill and knowledge and more particularly to the class thereof involving the skill of putting a ball and the knowledge of the rules of the game of golf.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art abounds with playing apparatuses utilized in playing the game of golf. For example, in one known device a flexible blanket is draped over one or several mounds to simulate a putting green. Provision is made for cups, completely contained in the putting green blanket in one embodiment, for insertion of the cups in underlying mounds in another. The blanket, mounds and cups can be quickly assembled on a table, or other suitable support and provision is made to grade the edges of the blanket to prevent resting of the ball along rails which contain the game. The blanket may also have a putting fringe surrounding the putting greens. By shifting these mounds, miniature versions of typical greens of any particular green can be formed. The mounds can also be made higher or lower. This apparatus is difficult to set up and use, as well as lacking in portability. Furthermore, actual putting cannot be practiced since the apparatus is adapted to have components suitable for playing purposes with miniature size clubs and balls.
Another known apparatus includes a rigid support and having thereon a pair of elongated cylinders disposed in spaced apart relationship and journaled for rotation along their parallel longitudinal axes. Indicia is carried upon the surface of an elongated sheet, each end of which is affixed to the periphery of the cylinders. One end of the table carries a miniature golf terrain-like surface adapted for use with portions of the indicia displayed on the flexible sheet carried by the cylinders. This apparatus, though versatile in appearance and in game possibilities, is expensive to manufacture and ill-suited for the actual use thereof as a full sized putting apparatus.
In yet another known device a driven golf ball rebounds from a vertically extending target panel having nine numbered target areas onto a putting area. The tee area has nine numbered tee positions and may be in the form of a grooved ramp which is inclined upwardly toward the target panel and has a progressively changing thickness from the first to the ninth tee position. The putting surface includes nine numbered ball receiving cups, each of which may be closed by a plug having an extracting bar spanning a concave cavity in the upper surface thereof. Such apparatus utilizes rigid components, limited in size, thereby prohibiting the use of the device in a full-fledged putting operation. Furthermore, the apparatus fails to teach a user thereof of any of the rules associated with the playing of the game of golf.